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INTRODUCTORY LECTURE 



BEFORE THE 



ALABAMIAN INSTITUTE 



DELIVERED 



DECEMBER 7, 1833, 
IN THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 



BY ALVA WOODS, D. D. 

n 
PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA. 



TUSCALOOSA: 

W. W. & F. W. M'GUIRE, Printers, 

1834. 



v\ 



A 



INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 



Mr. President, and Members of the Institute: 

Called, in the midst of official duties, to deliver the Intro- 
ductory Lecture before your Society, I beg leave to solicit your 
attention, for a short time, to The Infiuence oj Knowledge upon 
Man 171 his Social State. 

This influence is seen and felt in man's physical, political, and 
moral condition. 

Why is it that the civilized man is more comfortable than the 
savage? Why is it that the former has wholesome food regu- 
larly, and clothing and habitation suitable to protect him from 
the vicissitudes of the seasons, while the latter is obliged to 
depend for his food upon the contingencies of the chase, and 
has no pillow for his head but the bosom of the earth, and no 
curtain for his bed but the canopy of heaven ? Why is it that 
the civilized man is multiplying rapidly, and sending forth the 
overflowings of his population to colonixe the earth, and to 
convert the wilderness into a fruitful field, while savages, even 
in a state of peace, dwindle and melt away before the face of 
civilization, like frosts before a rising sun? Is it not because 
savages are ignorant of agriculture, manufactures, and the 
various mechanic arts, that their physical condition is little bet- 
ter than that of the beasts of the forest ? 

What are all the improvements in labor-saving machinery, by 
which one person performs the work formerly requiring hundreds 
and thousands ; what are the invented facilities for travelling 
aad for the transportation of goods ; what are all the improved 
methods of agriculture, by which the riclmess of the soil is ren- 



dered inexhaustible, but so many indications of the march of 
mind ? Is it not in consequence of the improvements in the 
machinery employed in manufactures, that the great mass of the 
people throughout the civilized world are now better clothed 
and at less expense than at any former period ? Look at the 
increased facilities for diffusing knowledge since the invention 
of printing. A single English press, with the labor of two dozen 
persons, daily publishes newspapers, which would require a 
million and a half scribes to write them all by hand ! The 
morning papers of London contain the debate of the preceding 
night in the House of Commons ; and this too, though the 
debate may have contined till one, two, or three o'clock in the 
morning ! 

It has been said by an eminent English writer, that know- 
ledge is power. He might have added, it is wealth. What is 
it which renders the State of Alabama one of the most wealthy 
and prosperous States in the Union ? Shall I be told that it is 
the culture of the cotton plant, which furnishes nearly half the 
clothing of the inhabitants of the civilized world? But what is 
it which gives value to our cotton ? Why was no cotton raised 
in the United States for export before the year 1 785 ? and very 
little afterwards until the year 1793? It was because the labor 
of cleaning it by hand from the seeds and motes was too great 
to warrant it. It is to the genius of our countryman Whitney, 
that we are mainly indebted for the value of that article which 
sends wealth and plenty and comfort throughout our borders. 
Were it not for the invention of the cotton-gin by Whitney, and 
of the spinning-jenny by Arkwright, and of the power-loom by 
Cartwright, cotton would not be worth raising in this country 
as an article of export! By the improved machinery now in 
use, one person can produce two hundred times the quantity of 
cotton goods which one person could have produced in the year 
1760! Yes, it is knowledge, which pours into our lap the 
horn of plenty. And yet how few of the thousands that enjoy 



the benefit of these improvements, render due homage to the 
man of genius and of knowledge ! 

An uneducated mariner may conduct a ship in safety to a 
port thousands of miles distant. Though driven by storms and 
tempests for days and weeks, he may, by his observations on the 
heavenly bodies, ascertain his exact position on the wide ocean. 
Yet for all this successful navigation, he is indebted entirely to 
the knowledge which is furnished him by the mathematician and 
the astronomer. Take away his book of mathematical calcula- 
tions, his instrument for astronomical observations, his chart and 
his compass, and he would never dare to venture out ©f sight of 
land. Every man in a civilized country depends on commerce 
for many of the comforts, if not of the necessaries of life. Yet 
how few reflect that the foundation of commerce is laid in the 
knowledge of the man of study ! 

Look at our inland navigation. What is it which has given 
it existence? What is it which has made all our navigable 
streams channels of commerce? — which sends into the very 
heart of our country the productions of the most distant climes, 
and which enables us to find a ready market for all the fruits of 
our own industry? It is to the genius of our countryman Ful- 
ton, that we must render our acknowledgements for these benefits. 
Compare the progress of the flat-boat and the keel-boat with 
that of the Fulton steamer as she majestically ascends our bold- 
est rivers. The railroad car, propelled by steam, and moving, 
as it were upon the wings of the wind, pays its homage to human 
genius. 

In a word, of all animals, man is, in his infancy, the most 
destitute and helpless. Incapable of locomotion, and without 
natural covering, he continues longer in his dependant condition 
than other animals. And when arrived at adult age, he is still 
inferior to many animals in strength and in the acuteness and 
perfection of the external senses. It is to his knowledge, that 
man is indebted for his superiority to the brute creation. When 



6 

his powers are developed, and his mind instructed, he can sub- 
due all other animals, and render them tributary to his will ; can 
scan the heavenly bodies, as they move in grandeur throughout 
the immensity of space ; measure their distances and magnitudes 
and periods of revolution, trace the planets in their regular 
orbits, and follow the comets in their more rapid and elliptic 
flight. The stars, which to the untaught eye, appear only like 
brilliants in the ear of beauty, are found by the educated man 
to be mighty revolving worlds, or the refulgent centres of other 
systems. The milky way, which seems to be only a thin shining 
film, like a virgin's zone, is seen by the eye of science to be a 
condensed congregation of other worlds or other suns. 

That astronomy is not merely a speculative and useless sci- 
ence, but one which has an immediate bearing on the welfare 
of society, we have already seen. The same might be shown, 
were there time, with respect to all the arts and sciences ; — -not 
only the mechanic arts, but the fine arts. 

That painting, poetry, music, architecture and other fine arts, 
have exerted an important influence in refining and polishing 
the human character, is capable of historic proof. They have 
exerted a mighty agenc}' in reclaiming man i'roiu a savage to a 
civilized state. 

But who can describe the unseen moral influence, which may 
be exerted on a community by historical paintings, commemora- 
tive of important events, or by faithful portraits of eminent men, 
whose lives are the history and glory of their country ? 

Who can tell how much the enthusiastic patriotism of the 
Romans was noui'ishedby their admiration of their cajjitol, that 
splendid legislative hall, which contained the statues of their 
heroes, which witnessed the triumphs of their conquerors, and 
which was associated in their minds with all that was glorious in 
the history of their country ? 

Who can inform us how much the faith of a pious catholic at 
Rome is strengthened by his veneration of the church of St. 



Peter, his admiration of its arcliitectural beauty and magnifl-' 
cence, of its lofty columns and colossal statues, by the sacred 
awe with which he bows before the statue of St. Peter, and con- 
templates the revered iiguers of the holy Pontiffs. 

The Emperor Napoleon understood well this principle of our 
nature, when he collected from every part of the continent of 
Europe the master-works in painting and statuary, and placed 
them in the Louvre at Paris, for the admiration of his country- 
men. What Frenchman could have visited the Louvre in those 
days without adding fuel to the fire of his patriotism ; and giv- 
ing a fresh impulse to his enthusiastic attachment to that man, 
who had achieved thus much for his country's glory ? 

Of a similar character and influence was the Pere Le Chaise, 
a burying-ground established by Napoleon on the hills in the 
neighbourhood of Paris, and which is probably more beautiful 
and attractive than any object of the kind in any part of the 
world. It is a scene of constant resort for the Parisians. 

With the same feeling no doubt, and with the same effect, 
Napoleon improved and adorned the public bviildings and the 
public square of almost every town and city, which fell vmder 
his power. These improvements were not confined to France. 
You witness them every where in Italy, from Milan to Genoa, 
and from the Gulf of Venice to the Bay of Naples. The 
unfinished and splendid cathedral of Milan, in which he crowned 
himself, with the iron crown. King of Italy, which cathedral is 
so celebrated for its thousand statues, and so beautifully describ- 
ed by Addison, it was reserved for the Emperor Napoleon to 
complete. In a word, though he gathered as a nest the riches 
of the nations, he expended them with a liberal hand on those 
public objects which would identify his name with the pride and 
the glory of every city and nation which felt his power. 

Who can tell what influence has been exerted, for many suc- 
cessive generations, upon the literature of England by West- 
minster Abbey, that most magnificent repository of the illustrious 



dead, where sleep in honor the ashes of those who have rendered 
themselves eminent in the republic of letters ? 

What traveller in England has not perceived that St. Paul's 
Church is the pride of every Londoner and almost of every 
Englishman ? 

What is it but this feeling of veneration for whatever is asso- 
ciated with the history and glory of the country^ which induces 
the House of Commons of Great Britain to continue to hold 
their sessions in the small, antiquated, and ill constructed church 
of St. Stephens ? 

Whatever is merely for pomp, and show, and idle parade, is 
evidently inconsistent with the simplicity of republican institu- 
tions. Such exhibitions may serve to dazzle an ignorant and 
enslaved multitude ; and to puff up with vanity the minions of 
power, as, clothed with some brief authority, they strut their 
hour on the stage of public life. 

But noble buildings, of the most durable materials, erected 
for legislative halls, or for purposes of education, are objects of 
just pride with every citizen. They are the common inheritance 
of the whole people. They are a bond of union to all the mem- 
bers of the body politic. The humblest citizen in the State 
has an equal right and property in them with the wealthiest and 
the loftiest. 

But how is the majestic capitol, or the noble temple of science 
to arise ? Many and strong hands must indeed be employed to 
rear the structure : but there must be intellect to gaide those 
hands, and to teach them where to place the plain, substantial 
Doric pillar, where the graceful and elegant Ionic, and where 
the still lighter and more decorated Corinthian; and how to give 
to each column its just forms and proportions. In fine, there 
must be a cultivated taste, founded upon a proper regard to 
utility. It is Mind, cultivated Mind, which secures to us all 
those comforts and elegancies which distinguish civilized from 
savage man. The tendency of all the fine arts is, to refine the 



9 

manners and lo purify the morals. It is not denied that higher 
and holier principles are necessary to change the moral charac- 
ter of man, and to raise him from vice to virtue. Still we main- 
tain that the natural tendency of these studies is elevating, 
ennobhng. We would conclude this part of our subject in the 
language of Sir Joshua Reynolds, that "every establishment 
which tends to the cultivation of the pleasures of the mind, as 
distinct from those of sense, may be considered as an inferior 
school of morality, where the mind is polished and prepared for 
higher attainments." 

In briefly touching upon the influence which a knowledge of 
some of the arts and sciences exerts upon man in his social state, 
it may be proper to notice that wonderful improvement or inven- 
tion, by means of which a knowledge of all other improvements 
and inventions is preserved and perpetuated ; I mean the Art 
of Writing. What must be the astonishment of the unlettered 
savage, when he learns for the first time, that, by means of 
loriting, one individual can communicate his thoughts to another 
hundreds of miles distant : and that in this way, the thoughts of 
an individual may be transmitted from one generation of men to 
another, and from one country to another, down to the end of 
time ! 

From recent discoveries as to the meaning of the Egyptian , 
hieroglyphics, it appears that alphabetical or artificial language 
is of earlier and more extensive use than had been supposed. 
Until recently, these hieroglyphics have for ages been to the 
learned a perfect labyrinth. But recent discoveries encourage 
the hope, that the whole system will, at no distant day, be un- 
raveled : — that a new chapter in the history of man will be 
opened to our enraptured vision ; — and that then we shall be 
able to learn what persons, what events, or what objects, were 
designed to be commemorated by the pyramids of Egypt. 

But we have already before us undisputed examples of the 
transmission of knowledge by ivritifig from a very remote period 
of time down to the present. B 



10 

The Pentateuch, or Law of Moses, written about three thou- 
sand five hundred years ago, though at one time only a single 
copy of it existed, and that lay buried in the rubbish of the tem- 
ple at Jerusalem, is now read by christians in every quarter of 
the globe. 

The poems of Homer, chanted by a blind old man, almost 
three thousand years ago, and concerning which thei-e is much 
doubt whether they were ever committed to writing by himself, 
are now the text-book of the scholar in every part of the repub- 
lic of letters. 

In the first century of the christian era, by an eruption from 
Mount Vesuvius, the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii were 
entirely buried, and continued in that state till within a short 
time : — that is for the space of about seventeen centuries. These 
ruins are now partially excavated ; and multitudes of manuscripts 
have been fovuid, many of which, though apparently burnt to a 
coal, have been, by modern skill, unrolled : — and thus valuable 
works have been recovered, of which no other copies were extant. 

Yes, written language is the master magician that communi- 
cates, by a talismanic power, the perceptions, the inventions and 
the discoveries of one generation to another. It is written lan- 
guage which records, as with a pen of iron and with the point 
of a diamond, the operations and results of active and useful 
intellect, and thus renders them imperishable : — and thus enrich- 
es, by continued and successive accumulation, the ever swelling 
tide that rolls for human happiness. 

The art of printing has secured the duration of this most 
valuable of all means for the improvement of the human intellect. 
It has made Mind, if not immortal in this world, at least com- 
mensurate in the valuable efiects of its labors, with the scene 
which it once viewed, and the objects which it once delighted 
to behold. The pale corse, in which it once dwelt and from 
whose earthly tenement it once radiated its celestial fires, may 
njoulder and mingle with kindred atoms ; but the fruits of its 



11 

labors are more durable than Arundelian marbles. They are 
conveyed to a continued succession of intelligences, like him- 
self: and while this succession lasts, the labors of intellect will 
survive. 

Were I able to present to the members of this Institute a com- 
plete history of the progress of literature and science in every 
age, the direct and powerful influence of knowledge upon the 
social condition of man, would be clear as the sunbeams of 
heaven. 

"But," to use the language of the illustrious Laplace, '-'as 
the arts by which alone the events of past ages can be tramsmit- 
ted in a durable manner are of modern invention, the remem- 
brance of the first inventors in the arts and sciences has been 
entirely effaced. Great nations, whose names are hardly known 
in history, have disappeared from the soil vv'hich they inhabited ; 
their annals, their language, and even their cities haye been 
obliterated, and no remnant left of their science or their industry^ 
but a confused tradition, and some scattered ruins of doubtfy 
and uncertain origin." 

Still, with permission, I will briefly allude to some of/^^ 
literary societies and eminent philosopliers, who, by their \f^^' 
ledge, have guided, in sqme hiunble measure, the social df"^^"^^^ 
of man. 

In the dark ages, when moral and mental science, ?od natu- 
ral philosophy, were covered with the thickest gloom ^"® mnu- 
•ence of eminent teachers, schools, and literary societ^s, was even, 
more powerful than at present. The little learning which ex 
isted was transmitted through few channels. As there were 
printed books, and few manuscripts, learning was conim 
ted by oral instruction. The teacher was the sale ora' '_ 
his opinions were received as undoubted truth?. We "^, 
teachers became the heads of philosophical sec" ^"'^ were 
perpetuated for centuries. 

On the birth of Alexander the Great, ssF/ears b^efere Christ, 



12 

his father, Philip of Macedon, wrote to Aristotle : " King Philip 
of Macedon to Aristotle, greeting. Know that a son has been 
born to me. I thank the gods, not so much that they have 
given him to me, as that they have permitted him to be born in 
the time of Aristotle. I hope thou wilt form him to be a King 
worthy to succeed me, and to rule the Macedonians." Of the 
manner in which Aristotle discharged the high trust thus reposed 
in him, and of the influence whidi he thus exerted on the age in 
which he lived, let the history of the subsequent splendid career 
of his royal pupil, tell. But the influence of this eminent philo- 
sopher was not confined to that generation. While the Mace- 
donian empire, founded by Alexander, was, soon after his death, 
dismembered among his principal officers, the empire founded 
by Aristotle remained one and undivided for two thousand years. 
Even in the time of Galileo, not more than two hundred years 
ago, it was thought a sufficient argument to overturn any 
newly discovered fact in natural philosophy, "I cannot find it 
in Aristotle." 

Now, thanks for our happier lot, knowledge pours forth her 
^freshing streams, intersecting all the walks of life. In ten 
^'msand forms, from the ponderous folio to the daily periodical, 
^^^hce spreads before us its invaluable treasures. With books 
^i^d -achers on every side, we are disposed to call no man mas- 
ter ; b,j^ jjj science as in morals, to require of every man a rea- 
son of h. faith. 

Much (f the learning of modern times, may be traced to the 

establishmest of the Alexandrian School, at Alexandria in Egypt. 

^pon the death of Alexander the Great, it is well known that 

"principal generals divided his empire among themselves ; and 

-S-ypt fell to the share of Ptolemy Soter, a prince whose 

"^encfc and munificence towards its professors, attracted 

^a» the capitol of his kingdom, a great number of 

^d men of Greece. His son Ptolemy Philadel- 

" ' 'id increased the benefits conferred on them by 



13 

his father, and built the magnificent edifice which contained the 
celebrated Library collected by Demetrius Phalereus, and an 
astronomical observatory. This Alexandrian School was the 
first source of accurate and continued astronomical observations. 
Until the establishment of this School, the Greeks treated astro- 
nomy as a science purely speculative, and indulged in the most 
frivolous conjectures respecting it. Among the scholars of 
Alexandria, the name of Euclid, the father of scientific geome- 
try, stands pse-eminent. It was in Egypt that Thales, the earli- 
est philosopher of Greece, and the founder of the Ionian School, 
gatiiered his knowledge of philosophy. In the Ionian School 
were taught the sphei'icity of the earth, the obliquity of the 
ecliptic, and the true causes of the eclipses of the sun and moon. 
From the Ionian School arose Pythagoras, the cliief of a school 
still more celebrated. All the knowledge of the Ionian School 
was taught on a more extensive scale in that of Pythagoras : 
and especially the two motions of the earth on its axis and about 
the sun. 

The Alexandrian School, already mentioned, continued to 
flourish for more than five centuries, and to produce the most 
eminent philosophers, when, as has been observed, an event, the 
most calamitous and the most disgraceful to its perpetrators, laid 
in ruins its valuable library, and consumed in one hour the labors 
of its most celebrated philosophers. 

During the long period from the year of our Lord 800, till 
the beginning of the fourteenth century, the western parts of 
Europe were involved in the utmost barbarity and ignorance ; 
while the Arabians, profiting by the books which they had saved 
from the wreck of the Alexandrian Library, cultivated and im- 
proved all the sciences. It is to the Arabians that modern 
Europe is indebted for the first rays of light that dissipated the 
darkness in which it was enveloped during twelve centuries. 
They have transmitted to us the treasure of knowledge, which 
they received from the Greeks, who were themselves the disciples 
of the Egyptians. 



14 

In the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, academies 
and schools were established in various pai'ts of Europe, which 
contributed much to the diffusion of knowledge, and eventually 
to the downfall of the Feudal Sj'stem. 

The translation of the sacred Scriptures into most of the lan- 
guages of Europe, at the time of the Protestant Reformation, in 
the sixteenth century, greatly increased the number of readers 
and thinkers, awakened the energies of the human intellect from 
the slumber of ages, and exerted a powerful influence upon the 
religious opinions of men. 

Ever since the revival of letters, the invention of printing, and 
the Protestant Refoi'mation, there has been, I conceive, a steady 
progress in the great work of mental and moral improvement. 
This movement is, I trust, destined to be an onward one, until it 
shall embrace within the range of its elevating and purifying in- 
fluence the whole human family. 

Were there time, it might be proper to present to the members 
of this Institute a history of all those literary associations, which, 
in more modern times, under the name of Academies and Philo- 
sophical Societies, have contributed essentially to the progress of 
useful knowledge. These societies have generally been begun 
and carried on by few individuals ; and yet the whole commu- 
nity have reaped the benefit of their labors. 

The Institute of France, for example, the great literary soci- 
ety of that country, was established in 1795. It was formed out 
of the Royal Academy of Sciences, the French Academy, the 
Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, and the Academy 
of Painting and Sculpture. The members of the Institute were 
divided into four classes, each class devoting itself to the cultiva- 
tion of some one particular department of knowledge. Each 
class was again divided into sections, each section devoting itself 
to some one branch of science. In short, the French Institute 
was a society formed under the patronage of the government for 
the cultivation of the Arts and Sciences. From the Papers or 



15 

Essays, read in this society, many valuable volumes have already 
been published. During all the vicissitudes of the French revo- 
lution, and the many fluctuations of parties, this society wsls 
acknowledged by all to be the glory of their nation, and the 
palladium of mental freedom. 

The United States also have their American Philosophical 
Societ}' at Philadelphia ; the Massachusetts Historical Society ; 
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at Boston ; the 
Historical Society of New- York ; and many other societies too 
numerous to be mentioned. 

In conclusion, permit me to say to the members of the Alaba- 
mian Institute, and to this respectable audience, who have hon- 
ored us with their presence this evening, that the influence ex- 
erted by these literary societies, is beyond calculation. They 
call into active and useful exercise intellectual faculties wliich 
would otherwise remain dormant. They stimulate the members 
to make high intellectual efibrts. It is b}^ the action and re- 
action of mind upon mind, that it becomes polished and adorned. 
It is by the collision of intellect with intellect, that eminent men 
are produced. Reti'ace the history of distinguished literary and 
scientific men. Why is it that they have generally appeared in 
the world not singly, but in clusters ? — not in solitary splendor, 
but in bright and glorious constellations ? Why has every nation 
its golden age of literature ? Is nature more prolific in genius at 
one period than at another ? Or is it because the precious gems 
of nature are left at one time unheeded in their native rubbish, and, 
at another time, are gathered up and polished and beautified by 
the hand of art ? Does not the principal difi'erence consist in the 
different inducements which are held out, at diflferent times, for 
the cultivation of talent ? When powerful incentives are applied, 
the mind is awakened to powerful action ; and intellectual great- 
ness is the 1 esult. 

What would posterity have known of George Washington and 
of that bright galaxy of patriots that gilded our western horizon 



16 

in the days of the American revolution, had it not been for those 
causes which called forth the talents and the virtues of these men ? 
Had it not been for the ojjpressions of the British Government, 
which kindled the souls of our fathers to a holy ardor in the 
cause of freedom, their names might never have stood forth, in 
bold relief, on the page of history, for the gaze and admiration 
of coming ages. 

These literary associations may also exert a kindly influence 
on the feelings and manners of those whose example is regarded 
as authority. The members, by meeting and mingling in the 
same delightful pursuits of literature and science, may soften 
those asperities of feeling, which are often produced in their 
own minds, by differences of opinion on other subjects. They 
may thus pour oil upon those waves which often agitate and 
heave a community. 

These literary societies may also exert a wholesome influence 
upon the cause of morals and of freedom. All error flourishes 
best in the darkest shades of ignorance : and tyranny, whether 
civil or ecclesiastical, holds an undisputed sway only where the 
light of knowledge pours not its radiant beams. The founda- 
tions of despotism are sapped, and its whole fabric endangered, 
by schools and colleges, by literary societies and printing presses, 
and by all similar means for irradiating the human understand- 
ing with the light of truth. Sixty-four years after the first set- 
tlement of Virginia, Sir William Berkly, then Governor of that 
province,- in an oflicial communication to the lords of the colo- 
nies, observed, "I thank God, that there are no free-schools nor 
printing presses here ; and I hope we shall not have them here 
these hundred years ; for learning hath brought disobedience 
and heresy and sects into the world, and printing hath divulged 
them in libels against the best governments." 

The mind when duly enlightened, must perceive its own na- 
tive dignity and inestimable value ; and be disposed to maintain 
that dignity against all encroachments. The enlightened mind 



17 

will perceive the purpose for which power is delegated, and lor 
which government is established ; and will not be disposed to 
sustain any government, when it subverts the very end for which 
all governments should exist. 

The question, then, whether any community shall be enlight- 
ened, is a question whether it shall be free. An enlightened 
commiinity cannot long be an enslaved community ; and an igno- 
rant community cannot long be a free community. Take the 
most despotic country in Europe or Asia, in which the will of 
the despot is the only law ; and establish throughout that country 
schools and colleges and printing-presses; put into every man's 
hand our code of christian morals; send the school-mast^- 
through the land ; in a word, enlighten the whole mass of the 
people ; and that people will speedily work out their political 
salvation. They will hurl from their necks the iron yoke of 
fjxjndage, and dash in pieces the tyrant's sceptre. 

Take again the most free and enlightened nation in the civi- 
lized world : for example, our own. Shut up our schools and 
colleges ; banish our teachers ; burn our books and printing- ' 
presses, and Amt rican liberty will be entombed with the present 
generation. Our children, covered with worse than Egyptian 
darkness, will hug, in silent submission, the chains which bind 
their souls and their bodies to the car of despotism : 

And the star-spangled banner no longer shall wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

But we hope better things of our American Republic, and 
things which accompany our salvation, though we thus speak. 
And we trust that this small society, formed for the cultivation 
of letters, may contribute its humble part towards that general 
diffusion of knowledge, without which our republic will prove to 
be but the baseless fabric of a vision : — and that other societies 
for similar purposes may be formed, and with the happiest results. 

We live, my friends, in a day favorable to voluntary associa- 
tions for literary improvement. No longer is learning confined 
C 



18 

ro the cloister of the priest, or to the grove of the philosopher. 
No longer is it necessary to travel to Egypt, or even to England, 
to obtain knowledge. The temple of science is opened wide to 
all her votaries ; and her treasures are offered freely as the water? 
of life. 

But while we congratulate ourselves on living in a day iu 
which learning is more widely diffused than at any former period, 
let us not forget our dangers. Let us remember that what is 
common and easily obtained, is often but lightly esteemed. 
When the philosopher of Greece was obliged to reso'*t to Egypt 
to acquire learning, and was there cautiously initiated into its 
secret mysteries, which were carefully concealed from the public 
eye, he must have placed a high value on his literary opportuni- 
ties and his literary attaiments. When our fathers were obliged 
to send their sons to Europe to be educated, at a time when a 
voyage across the Atlantic was longer and more uncomfortable 
than at present, they no doubt placed a higher estimate on edu- 
cation than we do, who have it brought to our doors, and made 
common as the waters which we drink, and the air which we 
breathe. But let us be assured, that learning, however common, 
can never lose its value : — that it is that which disarms fortune of 
half her power over us ; — that which sheds light upon the soul in 
the dark hour of adversity, and which imparts purest pleasure 
in the day of prosperity. 

And knowledge is the strongest safe-guard for our religious 
as well as our civil privileges. These United States, in which 
knowledge is more generally diffused than in any other nation, 
is the first country under heaven in which perfect liberty of con- 
science, and perfect freeedom of opinion on all religious matters, 
were ever guarantied to all the members of the communitv . In- 
deed whal other country is there in which ejitire religious liberty 
is enjoyed even to this day ? Do we wish a continuance of these 
blessings ? Let us remember that sleepless vigilance is the price 
both of religious and political freedom. Let us, then, never 



19 

oease lo guard the bowers of our earthly paradise against all the 
inroads of the coinnon enemy of man, in whatever sh rpe or form 
he may come. Let us throw around our American Eden the 
strong bulwarks of knowledge : — ^and let us water it with the pure 
and ever flowing streams of literature and science. Let us 
engrave it as upon monumental marble, that literary institutums, 
well established ami guided by intelligent and virtuous men, are 
the surest pledges of the stability of our American Republic, and 
&f the perpetuity of oar civil and religious freedom. Such insti- 
tutions are th ? verdant spots, in the annals of a country's glory, 
on which the eye of a future historian will repose with unmingled 
delight. When, in the lapse of time, the names of mightiest 
conquerors shall be bui'ied in forgetful ness, the memory of dis- 
tinguished patrons of learning will remain in ever-during fresh- 
ness ; and will be hallowed in the grateful recollections of every 
succeeding generation of scholars. 

In this state, in which Providence has cast our lot, there exist 
all the elements of physical, intellectual, and moral greatness. 
Let these elements continue to be brought into powerful action, 
under the direction of the lovers of knowledge, and under the 
guidance of an impartial judiciary and of an enlightened and 
liberal Legislature, and Alabama will inevitably be a star of the 
first magnitude in the galaxy of the Union. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 811 007 3 • 



